Index tab holder



Nov. 6, 1962 w. T. WOODHOUSE, JR 3,

INDEX TAB HOLDER Filed 001;. 9, 1961 llllllllllllllmnum FIG.2.

INVENTOR W. T. Woodhouse, Jr.

MWW

3,%Z,2l7 Patented Nov. 6, 1962 fine 3,062,217 INDEX TAB HOLDER William T. Woodhouse, J12, 5161 Macomh St. NW-, Washington, D.C. Filed Oct. 9, 1961, Ser. No. 143,961 2 Claims. (Cl. 129-165) The present invention relates to index tab holder, particularly for use on hanging folders and incidentally also preferably involves a magnification feature by which the printed or other data material on the tab may be greatly enlarged for readability and as a visual aid.

An object of the invention is to produce a commercial article suitable for the purpose of simple and inexpensive construction and form having ready applicability to the reinforcing strips conventional with folder files of this and other customary types.

Another object of the invention is to produce an index tab holder having novel details of construction for cooperating in a novel manner with the reinforcing strips above referred to whereby, while the tab holder will be readily slidable into and out of place on the strip, it will be held to the location in which it is originally placed against casual or accidental displacement and particularly will be retained in place against any upward movement which might be encountered in the placement and removal of papers to and from the file.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an index tab holder of a convenient construction for application to and removal from its file and its reinforcing strips.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view with parts broken away of a hanging form of folder file equipped with conventional reinforcing supporting strips and illustrating an application of a form of tab holder in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view taken on an enlarged scale of the index tab holder apart from the file.

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on a magnified scale on the line 3-3 in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG- URE 3 showing a modification.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, and 11 designate front and rear walls of a conventional form of hanging folder file and 12 represents the fold hinge thereof.

The upper edges of the walls 10 and 11 are equipped with reinforcing suspending strips, generally of metal, folded upon themselves to provide front and rear members 13 and 14 depending from the bight 15 which connects the two members 13 and 14 at their upper ends and caps the upper edge of the folder wall as shown more particularly in FIGURES l and 3. The members 13 and 14 are disposed in parallel relation respectively against the obverse and reverse faces of walls of the file folders. Intermediate portions of these strips are forwardly offset as indicated at 16 resulting in a frontal rounded longitudinally running bead 17. This offsetting entails a similar offsetting of the material of the folder wall to the end that the reinforcing strip will be held more firmly to the paper or cardboard.

The improved index tab holder comprises an upper section A and a lower section B.

The upper section is generally comprised of a front wall 18 and a rear wall 19, which walls are connected only substantially at upper and lower edge portions and provide between them an intermediate space 21 which is open at least at one end to slidably receive the tab 22 on which letters, numerals or other identifying data are placed. The rear wall 19 may be longitudinally slotted at 20 if desired.

The front wall 18 will be of transparent material and preferably of a prismatic form in order to visibly enlarge the data contained on the underlying tab 22. It is preferred that the upper section A be molded from a clear plastic or synthetic resin material.

The lower section B also comprises front and rear walls 23 and 24 connected together only at their upper ends by a spring bow which is preferably integral with the walls 23 and 24. This lower section B is also preferably made as to both front and rear walls 23 and 24 and the spring bow 25 by an integral molding from a plastic or synthetic resin having inherent elasticity.

The lower ends of the walls 23 and 24 are un-connected and formed into mutually inturned diagonal upstruck pointed jaws 26 and 27 which are biased by the inherent resilient action of the material out of which the lower section B is made to a closed position upon one another as shown in FIGURES 2 and 4.

The front wall 23 has rearwardly indented crimps 28 and 29, the lower crimp 29 being spaced substantially above the lower jaw 26 and the upper crimp 28 while spaced above the lower crimp 29 being measurably below the crest of the spring bow 25. Between the crimps 28 and 29 the front wall 23 is bowed forwardly as indicated at 30. Above the upper crimp 28 and between the crest of the spring how 25 such front wall is also forwardly bowed into an upper bow 31; while below the crimp 29 and between the crimp 29 and the jaw 26 the front wall is displaced forwardly into a lower bow 32.

The upper and lower sections A and B are preferably molded separately and later united as by a weld 33. This weld may be produced by softening the plastic with acetone or some other plastic solvent.

FIGURES 3 and 4 disclose somewhat varied relationships between the upper and lower sections joined by the weld. The upper bowed portion 25 of the lower section permits the upper section A to assume a variety of positions on the radius of curvature of the bow 25.

In FIGURE 3 the lower edge of the upper section A is united directly with the external convex surface of the how 25 of the lower section.

In FIGURE 4 the union between the two sections is made 'by an under or rear surface of the upper section near its lower end with a forward area of the convex upper bow 25 of the lower section.

In both instances of FIGURES 3 and 4, the upper section is inclined diagonally or laid back for easier reading, which diagonal position is maintained in point of use by the fact that the front and rear walls 23 and 24 of the lower section will be held in a substantially vertical position by the rigidity of the reinforcing strips 13, 14.

It will be noted particularly from FIGURE 3 that the rear wall 24 of the lower section B is bowed rearwardly away from the rear member 14 of the reinforcing strip all the way from the spring bow 25 to the jaw 27.

In the use of the device, the lower jaw ends of the lower section walls 23 and 24 are pried open from their normally closed position in the act of sliding the holder over and along the reinforcing strip 13. The wall 19 of the folder file will, as appears in FIGURE 3, maintain the jaws 26 and 27 spaced apart thus placing the lower section B under elastic tension when in place on the folder. The front and rear walls 23 and 24 are somewhat longer than the members 13 and 14 of the reinforcing strip so that the jawed lower ends of the walls 23 and 24 of the lower section B extend below the lower ends of the members 13 and 14, whereby automatically through inherent spring action, the two jaws 26 and 27 will close upon the paper and the upper pointed ends of these jaws will engage directly beneath the lower ends of the strip members 13, 14. Thus, the holder may be slid along the reinforcing strip but the engagement of the jaws 26 and 27 with the lower ends of the strip walls will prevent any upward or vertical movement, casual or otherwise, of the tab holder as a whole relatively to the strip or folder file.

i The rearward bow of the rear wall 24 will provide long leverage from the spring bow 25 all the way to the jaw 27 effectively holdingthis jaw in its locked position beneath the rear member 14 of the strip.

The central or intermediate bow 38 of the front wall 23 will conform to the bead 17 and ride therealong and be guided thereby in the sliding movement of the holder along the strip and file. The crimp portions 28 and 29 above and below the central bow 30 aid in the formation of the central bow 30 and have the further function of preventing riding up and down of the wall 23 on the member 13 of the strip.

These crimps 28 and 29 have a third function in that the upper crimp 28 in concert with the upper bow 31 and the spring bow 25 will cause the crimp 28 to press against the front member 13 of the strip, it being under stood that the upper how 31 outstands from the upper portion of the front wall 13 of the strip as clearly seen in FIGURE 3. Thus, there is no contact between the upper how 31 and the included portion of the member 13. Consequently, the upper bow 31 can freely exert the elastic action inherent in its material and developed by its bowed form which is also augmented by the resilient action of the spring bow 25 with which the forward bow 31 merges. The resilient action of the bows 25 and 31 also tend to yieldably move the central bow 30 upon the head 17. I

t The combined resilient action of the bows 25 and 31 is also communicated to the lower crimp 29 and the lower spring how 23 mutually tends to urge the c'rimp'29 rearwardly and the jaw 26 rearwardly so as to maintain the positions of the parts asillustrated in FIGURE 3.

It will be notedfrom this FIGURE 3 that the lower bow'32 is also bowed outwardly from any' contact'with the lower portion of the front member 13 of the strip thus making it capable of spring action as described upon both the lower crimp'29 and jaw 26. The crimps 28 and 29 are in effect apexes of spring action of the bows 30, 31 and 32.

Although I have disclosed herein the best form of the invention known to me at this time, I reserve the right to all such modifications and changes as may come within the scope of the following'claims.

What is claimed is: 7

1. An index tab holder for use on hanging folders having reinforcing suspending strips along the upper free edges of the walls thereof with forwardly ofiset intermediate portions resulting in the formation of frontal rounded longitudinally running beads, comprising upper and lower sections, said upper section comprising front and back walls connected together at least at upper and lower edges thereof and spaced apart with at least one open end to slidably receive a tab, the front wall at least being transparent, said lower section comprising front and bear walls of inherently resilient material connected only at their upper ends by a spring bow and having their lower free ends mutually turned toward one another and terminating in diagonal upstru'ck pointed jaws, biased to a closed position and pried apart by the thickness of wall of a wall of the folder to place the front and rear walls of the lower section under elastic tension when in place on the folder, the front and rear walls of the lower section being of approximately the same vertical height and slightly longer than the vertical dimension of the engaged reinforcing strip whereby the points of the jaws will simultaneously engage beneath =,the lower edges of the front and rear members of the engaged reinforcing strip and hold the upper bow portion of the lower section down upon the upper portionof such engaged reinforcing strip, the rear wall of said lower section being bowed rearwardly out of contact with the rear member of the reinforcing strip to provide long resilient leverage to the jaw carried thereby, the front wall of the lower section having an intermediate portion substantially above its jaw crimped rearwardly above and below the bead of the reinforcing strip and bowed forwardly between the crimps to substantially conform to the bead of the strip and with portions of the lower section front wall above and below the crimps bowed forwardly away from the front member of the strip to establish resilient pressure generated basically from the bow at the upper part of the lower section and augmented by the bowed portions of the lower section front wall to cause the latter wall between crimps to hug the rounded bead of the strip and the front wall hook totightly and resiliently engage the lower edge of the front member of the strip, and means tosecure the upper and lower sections together at respectively lower and upper portions thereof 2. An index tab holder as claimed in claim 1 in which the front wall of the upper section is prismatic to magnify the index matter on the tab, the rear wall of the upper section being slotted and the upper section being laid back diagonally relatively to the vertical installed use position of the lower section on a wall of the folder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,562,622 Dodge Nov. 24, 1925 2,513,127 Wolters June 27, 1950 2,679,846 Addison June 1, 1954 Epstein NOV. 3, 3,021,186 Immermann Feb. 3, 1962 

